


Judgment

by viciousmollymaukery



Series: Critical Tarot [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Found Family, Marion Lavorre is in this but not enough to warrant a main tag imo, Multi, Planning and Plotting, dope monk shit, hints of Dysfunctional Family, the Beaujester is mostly pining (for now), what's sexier than wizards NOTHING
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:55:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23572693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viciousmollymaukery/pseuds/viciousmollymaukery
Summary: "This card is referred to as a time of resurrection and awakening, a time when a period of our life comes to an absolute end making way for dynamic new beginnings. It is associated with decision-making, transition, and renewal."In the wake of surviving (well, Reviving) the Scourger attack, the Mighty Nein reflect and prepare for their next crazy plan: taking on the Cerberus Assembly.
Relationships: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast, The Mighty Nein & Essek Thelyss, subtle Beauregard Lionett/Jester Lavorre
Series: Critical Tarot [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2147757
Comments: 15
Kudos: 211





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Despite having two math tests and an astronomy quiz this week, I managed to get this out sort of early. Yay! 
> 
> If you didn't read part one (The Tower), you might want to go back and read that first before diving in here, but you can probably get the gist of what's happening either way. 
> 
> These next few chapters are a bit slower, in keeping with the themes of planning, consideration, and self-reflection as well as judgment as a whole, but I try to balance the Mighty Nein's need to have a decent plan with their penchant for chaos, as you'll hopefully see here. Also, minor spoilers from EGtW about Assembly members, and I inflict some of my own headcanons a bit here.
> 
> As before, do let me know if I make any typos or editing mistakes. I'm still getting used to using the Archive. Kudos and comments are welcomed with open arms; each one really is motivation to write more, as I did NOT expect the response I got on The Tower at all.
> 
> Enjoy!

Sleep was something that had always fascinated, and largely eluded, Essek. The practical, pragmatic part of his brain considered it a waste of time, to have to lie prone and immobile for up to eight hours of each twenty-four, a full third of one’s time. But he had just been brought back from the dead, and the lure of just shutting his mind off for a while and letting his body recover was positively entrancing.

So he’d slept— _actually_ slept—through most of the night, and then some. He vaguely remembered waking up at one point and pulling himself closer to Caleb—Caleb, who had barely left his side, whom he did not deserve, yet who had, selfishly, so dearly wanted anyway—but everything after that was a pleasant, dreamless haze.

Eventually, a gentle hand shaking his shoulder and some soft words in a Zemnian accent pulled through the fog and brought him back to the waking world. “Essek,” Caleb breathed, “wake up. It’s eleven fifty-three.”

Essek blinked awake, squinting despite the perpetual nighttime in his home. He was still on his couch, curled on his side under the cloak Jester had given him and a few more blankets that had been added since then. Someone had placed a throw pillow under his head at some point, but being designed more for appearance than comfort, it provided little actual support. Frumpkin had taken Caleb’s place next to him and was purring softly against his chest, tail flicking against his front paws.

The Tiny Hut had vanished, probably a few hours ago by the sound of it, but already he could hear the telltale sounds of chaos and activity that proved the Mighty Nein were still around: Jester and Caduceus bustling about his kitchen sending pots and pans clattering, Fjord and Veth bickering loudly somewhere in his dining room, Beauregard and Yasha battling full force with what he hoped were practice weapons somewhere further back, maybe from his backyard with the door left open.

Caleb himself was sitting on the edge of the couch, now gently helping Essek to sit upright. Even so, he hissed sharply at the stabbing ache in his chest that throbbed with each beat of his heart. Despite resting for well over twelve hours, he still felt, as Beauregard might phrase it, like a living bruise.

“Here,” Caleb said, brow furrowed in concern, “drink this.” He carefully handed Essek a steaming, floral printed teacup and placed Frumpkin into his lap before adjusting himself to sit next to him. “Caduceus says it should help you wake up.”

“Thank you,” Essek said hoarsely, noticing just how dry his mouth and throat were. He brought the tea to his lips, sipping carefully. It was warm but not scalding, and had a sweet, herbal taste with just a hint of mint that lingered on his tongue.

“Essek, you’re awake!” Jester ran over from the kitchen, her apron (where had she gotten it? He certainly didn’t cook enough to own one) and hands still covered in flour and bits of dough. She threw her arms around him about as delicately as she could manage, which still sent a wave of pain through him and almost sent the teacup crashing to the floor.

“Good morning, Jester,” he said through his teeth, which were clenched about as tightly as possible without cracking.

“Good morning! Well, it’s really pretty much afternoon by now. Did you sleep well? You were asleep for a while, Caleb was starting to get pretty worried, weren’t you Caleb?”

“Well, you were out for quite some time,” Caleb said, pointedly ignoring the implications in Jester’s words, much to her obvious chagrin. He pet Frumpkin’s head, who was still sitting in Essek’s lap. “But from our, ah, brushes with death, that isn’t too uncommon.”

“Yeah, when Nott—when _Veth_ accidentally killed Caduceus, he was like, super duper sore and sleepy for days.”

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration,” Caduceus said, bringing over a large tray of food and setting it somewhat precariously on one of Essek’s coffee tables. He topped off Essek’s tea with a serene smile. “How are you feeling today?”

Essek shifted slightly, suppressing another wince as he sipped more of the tea. There was a deep ache in his bones and a dull pain that pulsed from the back of his skull. The faint ringing in his ears still hadn’t fully subsided. Every heartbeat was another quick stab through his chest. He’d definitely pulled a muscle in his neck from sleeping awkwardly and couldn’t turn his head all the way to the right.

“I’m alive,” he said. “That is certainly a marked improvement from yesterday.”

Caduceus nodded. “Death can be tricky like that,” he said. “Just sit back and enjoy the Blakefields for a while. They were a nice folk. Family of bards.” Essek blinked a bit, but Caduceus had gotten up to return to his kitchen before he could respond, though he wasn’t exactly sure what he might have said.

“Here.” Jester picked up a doughnut off of the tray that Caduceus had brought over and practically shoved it in his mouth. “Eat this, you’ll feel _so_ much better. I made it like the ones back home in Nicodranas. They’re _delicious_. It’s got cinnamon!”

“Uh, thank you, Jester,” Essek said, taking it from her fingers and took a small bite. It _was_ delicious. Fluffy, sugary sweet and still warm to the touch. He realized that he was _starving_ and quickly took another bite of it. “This is very good.”

Jester grinned and pressed her hands together in front of her chest. “Aw, thank you so much Essek! They’re Sprinkle’s favorite too, aren’t they, Sprinkle?” She scratched the weasel around her neck under his chin. Essek thought that maybe it made a small squeak, but with his hearing still damaged he couldn’t really be sure.

With that, Jester dashed over to the back of the tower, out of his view. “GUYS, ESSEK’S AWAKE, GET YOUR BUTTS OVER HERE,” she screeched.

One by one, the rest of the Mighty Nein drifted over. Fjord and Veth entered his field of vision, still taunting one another good-naturedly. Beauregard ran in from outside, covered in a sheen of sweat and re-wrapping her knuckles. Yasha followed, sheathing her sword and confirming that they had _not_ been using practice weapons after all.

Watching them gather around, he fully registered for the first time the state of utter disarray his tower had been thrown into. Jackets and overcoats were strewn about, pieces of armor and stray weaponry were tossed haphazardly on various surfaces, the odd blanket or pillow was kicked across his floor. His kitchen was somehow more of a mess now than when it had been coated with half his blood volume. Smells and sounds were abound, from the sizzling of whatever Caduceus was cooking to Fjord’s insistence that he absolutely _could_ and _would_ throw Veth through a table now.

Essek didn’t really mind, of course, not with it being all of them. It was… not nostalgic, that wasn’t the right word, because you could not really be nostalgic for something you’d never had. But it was comforting, in a way, reflective of a bond of camaraderie they all shared that he could only hope to one day deserve. His mother would have hated it, Essek thought with a soft but bitter smile.

Beau spread her arms and let them drop back to her sides. “Look at that, he lives!”

“Indeed I do. Thanks to all of you,” Essek added. He could live a thousand lives and never be able to thank them enough for restoring him to this one. Not that he would, he thought, and with a pang of guilt he remembered another white lie that had darkened into a stain on his soul.

Beauregard placed herself on the arm of his couch as she had yesterday. Yasha slipped into the corner of the room, instinctively keeping a quiet lookout. Jester plopped herself down on the floor and leaned back against Beau’s legs, busying herself trying to feed Sprinkle. Veth claimed the spot on Caleb’s other side and Fjord fell back into an armchair, eyes widening when it gave a loud _creak._

“Shit.” Fjord’s head snapped up and he looked all around the chair, which creaked even more at his movement, which in turn made him panic more. “Shit. Shit. Fuck. I am _so_ sorry, did I break it?”

“No, it’s fine. Most of the furniture here is largely decorative. I don’t have many visitors,” Essek said.

“Besides, you’re not big enough to break it,” Veth said pointedly.

“Oh, I _swear—_ ”

“Okay, Mighty Nein,” Caleb interrupted with a finger raised. Frumpkin took a quick swipe at his hand and started gnawing determinedly at his wrist. “We do need to focus at least a little bit here.”

“Yes, we really, _really_ need a plan if we’re going to do this,” Veth said. “Now how do we form a proper plan, because we’ve literally _never_ made a plan that’s actually worked out before.”

“Hey, that’s not fair,” Beauregard protested. “We embarrassed that one guy for Professor Waccoh pretty well.”

“And I think everything that happened with Avantika went swimmingly,” Fjord said, backing her up.

“It absolutely did _not._ We were surrounded by _water_ the whole time, Caleb set a ship on _fire—_ ”

“We do have a bit of a history of, ah, flying by the seat of our pants, so to speak,” Caleb affirmed, raising his voice slightly to stop the conversation before it could spiral away from any semblance of control. “But I fear that is not going to work here. We need something a bit more solid.”

Beauregard stretched and cracked her knuckles out in front of her. From her belt she removed a small blue notebook, on which Essek caught a faint glimpse of the now familiar emblem of the Cobalt Soul. “Alright, first things first: all the members of the Assembly, what they do, and where we can typically find them. That seems like a good enough place to start.”

“Well we’ve met a few of them already, right?” Jester said around the doughnut she’d shoved in her mouth. She started counting them off on her cinnamon and sugar covered fingers. “There’s the Martinet guy, Icky, de Rogna, Oremid Hass—he _loves_ animals so much by the way, Essek—and that other one that was at the party, what was his name again?”

“Lord Athesias Uludan,” Essek clarified. Thanks to his own tutelage he could rattle off all their names and those of most previous members better than he could the members of his own Den. “Archmage of Diplomatic Union.”

“YEAH, THAT’S HIM,” Jester exclaimed.

“I have not had much dealings with him personally from my time in the Academy, but I recall that he is a relative of some sort to the Marquis of Nicodranas,” Caleb said to Jester. “The city is a bit in his pocket then, it seems. The Assembly likes their puppets.”

“Those slippery fucks,” Beauregard muttered, scribbling like mad in her notebook. She turned to Essek. “Do you have any like, bigger paper? And some maps? Maybe a corkboard and some yarn, pushpins, that sort of thing?”

“Most of my materials were, well…” Essek pointed skyward to the now destroyed upper story of his tower. “I may have a few things laying around in one of the auxiliary libraries, but if not, I would be happy to give you some money and a few good recommendations for places in the city.”

“Well, we have some maps already.” Fjord unfurled several large papers from seemingly out of nowhere, almost dropping one of them. “Is there somewhere we can lay these all out?”

“The dining room table would probably be best,” Essek said, inclining his head towards the area behind him.

“Hold on.” Yasha walked over towards the dining room and, with one great _heave,_ lifted the table up over one shoulder and brought it over to them, setting it down alongside the other couch at the front of the room with a slight _thud_. She dusted off her hands and crossed her arms again, resuming her former position.

“That—that—that—that, uh, that certainly works,” Beauregard stuttered, her cheeks and ears noticeably redder. “Yeah, sure, let’s, uh, let’s just go with that.”

“You know, we could have just gone over to the dining room,” Fjord said as he stood up, still trying to organize all of the maps.

Yasha blinked. “But we’re all already over here.”

“Okay, moving on,” Caleb said. “Fjord, can you set up the maps?”

“Yes, got it.” Fjord spread the maps over the table, the papers shuffling loudly as he tried to pin the curled edges down.

“Essek, can we use some of your stuff as paperweights?” Jester asked.

Essek waved his hand. “Feel free, what’s mine is yours.”

“Awww, you’re so sweet, Essek,” Jester cooed as she gathered up some of the fallen silverware and used the knives to pin the maps together onto the antique table, stabbing just a bit too enthusiastically for comfort. Another thing the Umavi would grind her teeth into dust over, Essek thought.

“Hold on, save me some room.” Caduceus brought another large tray of food over and set it on the other half of the table. “Can’t do planning on an empty stomach.”

They all loosely gathered around. Essek floated over, more out of physical necessities than political ones, but let his feet touch the ground when he reached the table’s edge. Caleb quietly slipped one hand into his and squeezed his fingers. Essek, his heart finally feeling a bit lighter, did the same.

“So,” Fjord said, muffled and sending a spray of crumbs over the table from the danish he’d shoved into his mouth, “ _here_ is Nicodranas, where the Uludan guy’s cousin is.” He wiped the corner of his mouth and tapped the city near the south of the Menagerie Coast. “Oremid Hass was way over here in Zadash—” He pointed to a city near the middle of the Empire— “and _here_ is Rexxentrum, where the other three that we’ve met presumably are.” He tapped the capital in the more northern region of Wynandir.

Jester had marked each point on the map with a toothpick tipped with pink and blue tinsel, and stood back now with her hands on her hips to admire her work with a satisfied nod.

“Rexxentrum is where most of them live,” Caleb said. “Those towers that we saw after the battle with Obann? Those are the Candles, their homes.”

“How often are they there, usually?” Beauregard was still taking notes and only half looked up at Caleb.

“It really depends. I can imagine the three that we just mentioned are there a fair amount of the time, but I do not know as much about some of the others. They would probably not want to risk them all gathering together in one place.”

“Yeah, a group of weirdos might try to come kill you when you do that,” Veth said from the chair she was standing on.

“Who else is in Rexxentrum?” Jester asked, eagerly fingering a few more toothpicks.

“Zivan Margolin is the new Headmaster of the Soltryce Academy,” Caleb said. “He is often on the Academy’s grounds. The Baroness, Jenna Iresor, Archmage of Industry, is often within the city as well, dealing with her own business with taxes and that sort of thing. The last member is Master Doolan Tversky. She is an… odd woman.”

“What’s so weird about her?”

“She is a scatterbrained sort,” Caleb clarified. “Collects and catalogs all manner of beasts and sometimes journeys out to find them. Intelligent, certainly, but truthfully I don’t find her especially malicious. These three,” Caleb pointed with his free hand to the original three toothpicks in Rexxentrum, tapping each of them in turn, “are the ones whom I worry about the most. Whatever we do with the others, these ones must be removed from power.”

“So our main targets are de Rogna, Icky-thong, and Da’leth,” Beau clarified, writing and then underlining something in her notebook. “So what do we _do_ here? Are we wanting to get rid of the institution as a whole?”

“I don’t think that is something we can do immediately,” Caleb said, eyes running over the maps pinned haphazardly to Essek’s table. “But these three are the main source of cancer in the Empire, in Wildemount. We need to cut these out, as soon as is possible—” he squeezed Essek’s hand again— “before excising the rest of the tumors.”

“And I agree with what you said,” Fjord added. “Whatever we do, it has to be all at once, because the moment we hit one of them—”

“All of the others are gonna be super on guard,” Jester finished. She twirled a toothpick between her fingers. “And it’ll be a lot harder to kill them.”

“ _Are_ we killing them?” Veth asked. “Or are we just, exposing or imprisoning them or something like that?”

“There’s certainly room in the Dungeon of Penance,” Essek offered, “if imprisonment is what you all seek. There are ways of keeping particularly powerful targets docile.”

“I don’t know if we could get them all the way back here without one of them, like, escaping or going all crazy and killing us all,” Jester said, halfway into another doughnut.

Beauregard nodded in agreement. “Yeah, whatever we do, I think we need to do it in the Empire. That way the people there can actually _see_ how fucked up what they’ve been doing is.” She turned to Essek. “You said you have other libraries.”

Essek nodded. “I do, in the other towers.”

“Mind if I do some browsing? Poke around for some materials, more info, that sort of thing?”

He gestured with his free hand. “By all means, feel free.”

“Cool.” Beauregard nodded to him. “Lead the way.”

Essek sighed a bit internally, but stepped away from the table and led Beauregard through to one of the walkways that connected his tower. Stepping outside for the first time, he was surprised to see that most of the smoke damage was gone and the shards of fallen glass had been cleared away from his yard. Another act of kindness.

He reached the end of the walkway and opened the door to the rightmost tower, which was primarily reserved for historical books, geographical descriptions, and that sort of thing. This room was _not_ enchanted by candles, thankfully, but a variation of Dancing Lights that sent a warm, amber glow over what was a relatively small and circular room. Ladders lined the bookshelves and spiral staircases led up to upper levels. A few tables and chairs dotted the floor, most empty but a few with books still open or stacked on them.

Beauregard walked next to him, staring down at the names in her notebook with a slight frown.

“What is it?” Essek asked, taking the very risky chance that she wouldn’t bite his head off.

Beauregard looked him over for a moment, eyes narrowed, clearly debating whether or not to let him in on what she was thinking. Essek waited, prepared to respect how much she chose to tell him, if anything at all. Finally, she sighed and turned the book towards him.

“This name,” she said, tapping the scrawling words _Jenna Iresor_ with the tip of her quill. “Something that Dairon told me yesterday is bugging me. They said that there’s like, some inconsistencies in what the Cobalt Soul has been able to find out about her. Some of her records are clearly forged, some accounts are contradicting, that sort of thing. And then at a certain point, all trace and mention of her just fucking disappears. It’s like she just popped out of the blue one day and inserted herself into the Assembly, a fully fleshed out person, you know?”

“That… _is_ very strange,” Essek said, now frowning as well. “I have not heard such rumors about her myself, but I have heard of criminals and spies doing that sort of thing.”

“Yeah, it’s super shady, right? Something’s definitely fishy about her, but I can’t fucking figure out what it _is_.”

“Well, if we confer with the others, perhaps they can share some insights.” Essek paused, seeing the room start to spin and blur a bit at the edges. “Um, may we sit down?”

“Oh shit,” Beauregard said, eyes widening as she clearly remembered he’d died barely twenty-four hours ago, and. “Yeah dude, it’s your house and all, you don’t have to ask _me_ ,” she said, gesturing to one of the tables at random.

“Thank you,” Essek said, half sitting half falling into the chair. “Anyway, feel free to peruse as you will. Though do be careful if you take any of the titles away from here. Some of them might, ah, draw unwanted eyes.”

“Wait,” Beauregard said, eyes narrowing again, “do you have, like, secret illegal evil books and shit? Is there a whole section with shelves wrapped in chains or something?”

Essek chuckled. “Not _chains_ , per se, but some of the… darker accounts of historical events across Exandria do require special steps to keep them contained, lest that darkness infect its reader.”

Beauregard stared him down for a few more seconds, chewing on her lip. “I can’t tell if this makes me like you more or less,” she said at last. “Why the fuck would you have those if they’re so dangerous?”

“Curiosity,” Essek answered honestly. “But I do what is needed to protect myself from such things. Despite what happened yesterday, I _can_ , generally, protect myself.”

“I mean… you just got murdered, but whatever you say.” With that, she stalked off to examine the shelves, already pulling a few books into her hand and flipping through them.

Essek waited patiently, idly flipping through one of the tomes from within his reach. It was a telling of the events in Vasselheim during the Calamity, including detailed diagrams of which parts of the city survived and which needed to be rebuilt after the fact. It was genuinely interesting, but he found it a bit hard to pay attention to. His thoughts kept drifting back to blood and cupcakes, to smoke and flame and darkness, to fiery red hair and soft lips pressed against his—

Beauregard slammed a stack of books down on the table. “All right, these should work for now. They talk about the history of the Assembly, past members, that sort of thing. I _did_ manage to find some bigger pieces of paper too.” She held up a few long, furled sheets of parchment that he must have stored away and forgotten somewhere. “Jester might have some yarn, she’s always finding and keeping weird things like that.”

“Excellent.” Essek closed his book and stood up, thankful the room stayed stable this time. “Then let’s be off.”

“Wait, hold on,” Beauregard said.

Essek sighed externally this time, but turned back to face her. “Yes?”

She glared at him again, casing him up and down. Essek blinked, waiting, unsure where she was going with this. Had she decided to kill him after all?

“I still don’t trust you,” Beauregard said at last. She pointed one finger at him. “I want you to earn it back one day, I do. But I still don’t trust you.”

It stung a bit, but Essek inclined his head to her, respectfully. “I understand,” he said, quieter than he meant it to be.

“But, I trust Caleb.” She took a step closer and jammed her finger into his chest, thankfully _not_ on the side where he’d been stabbed. “If you hurt him, _I will fucking kill you_. Got it?”

Essek nodded. “I would expect nothing less. And I do hope you know that I could never.”

“You already did,” Beauregard said flatly. “But I’m glad you understand.” She clapped him on the back and lifted the books into her arms. “Let’s get back to the others.”

The two of them made their way back to the central tower, each a bit more weighed down in their own separate ways. Essek had offered to float the books for Beauregard, but she insisted that it was fine and part of “dope monk training”, whatever that meant. Returning to the room where the rest of the Mighty Nein were set up was like walking onto another plane, given the comparable quiet and serenity of the library.

“If we go to Nicodranas first, we’ll almost certainly run into more bullshit from Uk’otoa,” Fjord was saying as they entered, arms crossed.

“ _Uk’otoa…_ _”_ Jester whispered.

“ _Uk’otoa…”_ Veth echoed.

“And I think the last thing we need is drawing that kind of attention to ourselves. If we agree to take that risk, then fine, but it’s still something we should all be aware of,” he finished.

“Well, as long as we stay on land and don’t go sailing out into open waters, he shouldn’t be able to get to us.” Caleb said. “I _do_ think at the very least we need to be on guard for Uk’otoa—”

“ _Uk’otoa...”_

“ _Uk’otoa...”_

“—to return, but if we stay in the city we should be fairly safe. No one here is dying again. We’ll be careful.”

Fjord raised his palms in the air before placing them on the table. “Fine, as long as we’re all comfortable taking that risk, we’ll go to Nicodranas first to talk to Yussa, then to Zadash to start reconnaissance on Hass.”

“Okay, excellent. We have our first step,” Veth said. She’d ended up standing on the edge of the table so she could be at eye level with everyone else. “We’re going to Nicodranas, we’ll talk to Yussa, we’ll see Jester’s mother, and go to Zadash from there.”

“When do we leave?” Beauregard asked. She’d started spreading the books from Essek’s library out over the table, pushing away the now mostly empty food tray that Caduceus had brought over earlier.

“Tomorrow, hopefully, or perhaps the day after.” Caleb turned to Essek. “Are there any preparations you need to make before leaving?”

“I will need to notify the Bright Queen of my absence, and my Den as well,” Essek said. “But, given your standing with the Dynasty, I do not foresee it being a problem, at least for the Queen herself.”

“What about your mom?” Beauregard asked. She’d shoved the final doughnut into her mouth and was talking mostly around it.

Essek sighed. “She can be a… severe woman,” he said delicately, “but nothing that I do not know how to handle,” he added quickly.

Beauregard glared at him again, but it was a bit different this time. Understanding, maybe, sympathetic if he didn’t know any better. “M’kay,” was all she said before returning to her books.

“Hey Essek,” Jester said, pressing her index fingers together, “when you’re done, can we go to that bakery you talked about yesterday, pleeeeeeeease?”

“Of course,” he said with a small smile and a nod in her direction. “I should be back within the hour, if all goes as easily as I hope.”

“Do you need one of us to walk with you?” Jester asked. “You know, in case someone comes to kill you again or anything like that?”

“I’m fine,” Essek said. He lifted his now repaired—another act of kindness—cloak and mantle from the tree by the door and readied himself to leave.

Veth cleared her throat. “Do you want us to go back home while you’re out, or…?”

“No, you’re all free to stay here as long as you’d like.” Essek donned the mantle and drifted gently upward, hovering now a few inches off of the ground. “I’ll be back soon enough.”

“Be careful,” Caleb said solemnly, clearly worried.

Essek smiled reassuringly. “I will be.”

“Yeah, don’t go dying on us again,” Beauregard added, half-shouting from the back of the house.

“I will do my best,” he called. So she _didn’t_ want him dead. That was a start.

So, with a final deep breath, Essek squared his shoulders, and the Shadowhand floated through the door out into Rosohna.


	2. Chapter Two

Strictly speaking, Beau hadn’t _planned_ on following Essek to the Lucid Bastion. Like a lot of things with their band of asshole fuck-ups, it had just sort of happened without much prior warning or planning on their part. Nott— _Veth_ had quickly pointed at her once he had left and made two quick hand motions, one she recognized well as meaning _follow him_ , the second mirroring the casting of the Invisibility spell.

Beau’s eyes widened, and she nodded rapidly, hoping she understood. She stood up from her spot at the table, the creaky old chairs scraping across the floor. “I need to get some stuff from in town,” she said to no one in particular, grabbing her staff and strapping it to her back. “Better maps, more paper, ink, that sort of thing.”

Fjord looked offended. “What’s wrong with my maps?” He indicated the papers that were pinned into the table. Truthfully, Beau was a bit surprised Essek had seemed so okay with them ruining his stuff. She’d half expected him to blow steam out of his ears when Jester had gone all stab-happy.

“I just think that one, bigger map of the whole continent might be better. We can’t exactly take Essek’s table with us when we leave for Nicodranas.”

“Speak for yourself,” Yasha muttered.

“Ooh, can I come with you?” Jester asked, her eyes and smile lighting up the fairly dim room. “I know Rosohna doesn’t like humans a lot of the time.”

“I should go by myself,” Beau said quickly, trying to ignore the pang in her chest when Jester’s face fell. “I’m gonna try to find Dairon again too, to check in one more time before we leave. She doesn’t really like spilling secrets to non-Cobalt people, ya know?” Dairon _had_ been hesitant to share what they knew last night in front of Jester, but Beau had insisted.

Jester’s tail swished sadly, but she nodded. “Okay, I’ll see you soon though, right?”

Beau’s throat seemed to clench shut. “Right,” she managed, and made her way towards the door. She kept one eye on Veth, who was carefully stealthing away towards the back of the tower, making an _I’ll go around_ motion with her hands this time.

“Be careful out there,” Caduceus called from where he was cleaning up Essek’s kitchen.

“Yeah, don’t die. We’ve had enough of that lately,” Fjord added, already turning back to the map and some of Beau’s notes.

“I’ll be back soon,” she said as she was closing the door. She quickly looked around for Veth, who appeared a few moments later with an eyelash and some gum ready.

“Are you ready?” Veth hissed.

“Why don’t you just go by yourself?” Beauregard hissed back, still a bit confused.

“ _You’re_ the Expositor and _you’re_ the one who speaks Undercommon!”

“Oh, shit, right!”

“You’ll have one hour,” Veth whispered, and started casting the spell. Beau watched her hands and feet, then her torso and the tip of her nose, vanish into thin air. It was trippy as fuck, being able to see through yourself but still being able to feel things.

Beau nodded, then remembered that she was Invisible. “Yeah, got it, I’ll try to be back before then.”

“Good. Now, go-regard!”

Beau groaned and cringed but started dashing down the street, using Step of the Wind to catch up to where she saw Essek, floating towards the Lucid Bastion. He’d been a little shaky back in the tower, but watching him now, you never would have guessed he’d been _dead_ yesterday. It was almost impressive, if it hadn’t made her that much more suspicious of him.

Being Invisible had its advantages, but definitely posed some challenges she hadn’t expected. No one in the crowd could see her, but also, _no one in the crowd could see her._ She had to dodge and weave and occasionally jump and flip, but she was acrobatic enough that she could get through largely without issue. She grinned to herself. Dope monk shit.

It took her less than ten minutes to get to the Lucid Bastion. She didn’t have Caleb’s perfect fucking internal clock, but she could keep track well enough. Essek drifted up the steps, the few guards and other drow inclining their heads to him as he entered. Beau ran as quietly as she could behind him, just slipping through the doors as they shut behind her.

She kept following him, keeping to the shadows despite being Invisible. She didn’t know what kind of fucking weird, anti-magic fields or sigils they might have here, and wanted to be ready to hide in case the spell dropped. She wished Jester were here, because she could’ve really used some Guidance right now—no other reason at all.

Essek approached the doors to the Bright Queen’s throne room, nodding at the two guards that were stationed on either side. They returned the gesture and opened the door. Beau could see the familiar throne and three spires from the Bright Queen’s helmet-slash-crown thing from here. Even from here, she looked dope.

For a second, she froze, deliberating. If there _were_ anti-magic spells and shit in there, or people or creatures that could See Invisibility, she was dead. But, oh, she was _so_ curious what he was going to _say…_

The doors were closing. She had maybe six seconds. Cursing silently, she tried to quicken her pace and dash through—and had to stop herself as they slammed shut barely an inch from her nose.

Beau didn’t move, didn’t even risk breathing. She carefully looked at the two guards that had closed the doors. They’d returned to their positions, not seeming to have noticed her, but each one was still less than five feet away.

She should leave, right? Or at least just wait back in the shadows until Essek reappeared? That was the safest thing to do. Instead, she carefully leaned in and pressed one ear to the door, thankful the sides of her head were sheared short and her hair didn’t scrape against the stone. She strained her ears, clearing her mind and just listening as best she could to the conversation that was going down on the other side.

“… _night.… my aid… small matters...”_ That was Essek, she was pretty sure.

“ _...think…_ _be returning?”_ The Bright Queen. Sure enough, they were both speaking Undercommon, which made this whole thing a bit more tricky since Beau still wasn’t quite used to the language.

“… _exactly…_ _list of… befall...”_

A deep sigh. _“Well… Dynasty… refuse?”_

“… _my… extend…_ _Nein.”_

“ _..._ _ **foolish** … Beacons… away?”_

“… _search…_ _stray… heart… Wildemount.”_

Beau frowned at that, and squeezed her eyes shut like that might make her hear better. This was so damn frustrating. What were they _saying_?

“… _require…_ _Den… court… provide… dismissed.”_

The conversation stopped. Beau listened to hear if there was any more conversation or if anyone was approaching the doors from the other side, but heard nothing. Then, the doors started swinging outward, and Beau had to jump back and narrowly avoid falling on her ass as Essek floated through. She cursed herself. Of course she wouldn’t have heard fucking _footfalls_ from him.

It had been close to twenty minutes now, she was pretty sure. She should be able to follow him for a little while longer, then rush to actually get some paper and maps and get back about the same time as him. Then she wondered, for the first time, how the hell she was going to buy things if she was still Invisible.

Fuck. _Fuck._ She’d have to wait the full hour for the spell to drop, and just get back after Essek did and risk his questions. Hopefully none of the Nein would think it was weird she took an hour to buy some damn _paper._

Well, too late now. Beau kept following Essek, who was taking a path farther into the Lucid Bastion she hadn’t gone down before. She faintly remembered him saying something about most of Den Thelyss living here, but she’d more or less chalked up most of the things he’d said about himself to be bullshit, so who knew?

The halls kept winding, taking her deeper and deeper into the building. Beauregard started to notice picture frames lining the walls, some detailing what she gathered were the previous lives of the Bright Queen, some depicting the Calamity, the search for the Beacons, the rise of the Dynasty, and so on. It was actually pretty cool, but she was nearing the half hour mark and went past without examining them in too much detail.

Essek eventually reached the end of a hallway, where a single silvery door stood, this one without any guards. He paused for a moment before almost hesitantly knocking on it. There was a voice from inside that Beau didn’t recognize and it swung open.

This time, she did dash through, and found herself in a small, office-like room. Books lined the side walls, and from their spines alone Beau got the feeling they were probably far older than the country of Xhorhas itself. The back wall was dominated by a large, dodecahedron-shaped window whose white-tinted panes mingled with the twilight that drifted through, casting a sort of ethereal glow over everything. In the middle of the room, behind a large, wide desk, sat a drow woman. This, Beau gathered, must be the Umavi Dierta Thelyss.

She was wearing a long sleeved, high collared silver dress with lighter threads of grey and white woven in. Her ivory hair was tightly and intricately braided down her spine, not a single strand out of place. Her features were stern and angular, as if perpetually fixed in a slight sneer or always looking down her nose. She seemed exactly like the kind of snobby rich asshole to have Beau arrested for something she, admittedly, _had_ done, but the person she’d done it to had totally deserved it.

“Essek,” she said in Undercommon, her low, harsh voice dripping with disinterest, not looking up from the paper she was writing on, “I’m very busy with ceremonial preparations. Whatever you want, please make it quick.”

Essek inclined his head to her. “Mother,” he said, matching her tone. “I’ve come to let you know that the Mighty Nein have requested my aid on a few small matters within the Empire and along the Menagerie Coast. We should return in a couple of weeks, though I am unsure of their exact timetable. I am more than happy to send word to you if it is significantly extended.”

Dierta Thelyss had slowly stopped writing, and regarded her son with a curious glance. “You will do no such thing.” She returned to her documents, seeming to consider the conversation ended. “Your duty is here, in Rosohna, as you well know. No child of Den Thelyss is going to go off gallivanting with their sort of ilk, saviors of the Luxon or not.”

“Mother,” Essek said with the familiar air of someone who was having this sort of conversation for the umpteenth time, “I am here to extend you a courtesy, _not_ to ask your permission.”

She looked up at him again, eyes cold, and set down her quill, folding her hands in front of her. “You will miss the upcoming worship ceremony,” she said, expressionless.

“Verin has said he would be more than happy to fill in for me.”

“There is diplomatic work to be done finishing the war.”

“I’ve already left the Bright Queen a list of people I’ve found to be more than capable.”

“The Dungeon of Penance needs remodeling,” she snapped.

“I’ve assigned the new Taskhand to see to it. That should be a good measure of their abilities, I think.”

Dierta was silent for a moment, her jaw clenched, then sighed through her nose. “You certainly have all the answers, don’t you?”

“I simply wanted to be prepared for your questions,” Essek said in mock innocence. “You’ve said yourself that it is _unbecoming_ of a Thelyss to be unprepared.”

For a moment, the two of them were silent. Beau tried to catch a better glimpse of what she was writing, but between the awkward angle and the weird lighting she couldn’t make out much more than a few squiggles, and she didn’t want to risk moving around too much in so small a space.

“It is foolish and wasteful,” Dierta sighed at last, sounding almost tired and sad, as if she pitied him, “to care for the petty, flawed things that will be gone in the blink of your eye. You would do well to remember that, or to finally learn it in the first place.” She began writing again, waving one hand dismissively and sighing, seemingly resigned. “I have work to do, get out of my sight.”

Essek turned and left without another word. Beau had to scramble behind him and hope she didn’t trip over the carpet or her own feet. By some small miracle, she made it out silently, and quickly made her own way out through the Lucid Bastion, not bothering to follow Essek anymore. She had about ten minutes left at best, by the time she made it out,which unfortunately would not be enough time to go back and egg Dierta’s office, but she could get to the other side of the Gallimaufry so Essek wouldn’t know she’d followed him.

Beau ducked into an empty alleyway between a tavern and an apothecary of some sort right as the spell ended. She looked over her shoulders, but was pretty sure that no one had spotted her. Truthfully, she kinda couldn’t believe she’d gotten away with that. Now she knew why Veth loved doing that kind of thing so much. It was fucking exhilarating.

She pulled her hood up and started wandering around to find _somewhere_ that might sell what she was looking for, reeling over everything she’d heard. What was it the Bright Queen and Essek had been saying about the Beacons? And the ‘heart’? Beau knew she couldn’t exactly _ask_ Essek directly without him finding out she’d spied on him, but part of her kinda wanted to test his reaction to finding out, maybe just to fuck with him.

Beau eventually found a stationary store and rushed inside, shimmying through the cluttered shelves and jumping over the odd pile of papers towards the kiosk at the back, where a female bugbear was standing and staring her down.

“Hi,” she said, laying her hands flat on the countertop. “Do you have any really long sheets of paper? And maybe a map of Wildemount as well?” Beau didn’t have the time or frankly the willpower for niceties.

The bugbear stared her down, jaw grinding as she chewed a piece of _something_ she’d plucked from a bowl behind the counter. Beau, impatient, reached into her vest and pulled out the symbol of the Bright Queen holding it aloft. The bugbear’s eyes widened.

“Let me, uh, see what I can do,” she grumbled, heading into the back room.

“Cool, I’ll wait.”

Beau paced anxiously for a bit, hearing the occasional clatter and curse from the back, still pondering. Dairon might have told her that it was dangerous to speculate when you didn’t have all the facts, but it was all she could do. She was pretty sure the Bright Queen had _definitely_ asked Essek to do something involving the Beacons while they were out dealing with the Cerberus Assembly. But _what?_

After a few minutes, the bugbear ambled out with her arms full of papers. She placed them on the counter in a rough pile. “Here’s most of the larger sheets I have. And _here,”_ she grumbled, handing Beau a slightly sturdier scroll, “is a map of Wildemount. It’s a bit worn but it’s the only one I could find. Altogether, with that fancy symbol you’ve got there, that’ll put you back about two gold.”

“Sounds like a deal.” Not bothering to haggle, Beau flipped her the coins and gathered the documents into her own arms, making her way out of the shop. She’d folded most of them up and put them away by the time she turned onto the street that led back towards Essek’s tower.

She arrived at the gate and waited, not knowing if she should knock or something like that, but it opened promptly after a few seconds. Fucking magic. Beau walked up to the door and stepped over the threshold, making sure it was locked behind her. They were _not_ about to face down unprepared with another Scourger or three or however many.

She was greeted by the usual flurry of activity from the Mighty Nein, though it seemed that they were more in the process of packing things _up_ rather than taking things _out_. “Hey, what’s going on?” Beau asked.

“Oh, you’re back,” Fjord said from where he was incorrectly placing the discarded silverware back on Essek’s dining room table, which had been returned to the back of the tower. “We all decided to just go back to the Xhorhaus for the evening. It’s a new location, so it’s probably safer.”

Beau shrugged. “Alright, seems reasonable enough.” She looked around, searching and not seeing… “Where’d Jester go?”

“She made Essek take her to the bakery a few minutes ago. If you run, you might catch them.”

She shook her head. “Nah, no point. I’m sure they’ll be back soon.”

“Yes, Jester is known for her expedience as far as pastries go.”

Beau smiled a little as she walked away to gather her things. The blanket she’d dragged from somewhere and shared on the couch with Jester the night before was in a crumpled heap on the floor. She lifted and folded it, straightening up the rest of the things the Nein had left in disarray. Eventually, she made her way over to Caleb, who was collecting the final few notations they had made on the Cerberus Assembly.

She hopped up on the table and sat criss-cross with her elbows on her knees, staring at him. “Hey,” she said.

Caleb blinked up at her. “Hello, Beauregard.”

Beau stared at him for a bit, thinking. She took a deep breath. “You do know what you’re doing, right? With Essek?”

Caleb let out a small _huff_ , but nodded once. “I do.”

“And you’re happy? I mean, I know for you that’s kind of a loaded question and all, but you know what I mean.”

Caleb sighed and looked at the floor for a moment before meeting her gaze. “That _is_ a loaded question, as you put it. But yes, I think so.”

“Okay,” Beau said, assenting. “You know I have to make sure.”

“I know. Thank you.”

Beau awkwardly reached her arms out and hugged Caleb, patting him on the back. He begrudgingly put his arms around her and neither of them moved for a few moments. “Okay, is that long enough?”

“Yep.” Caleb pulled away and returned to compiling the notes.

“Alright, good,” Beau muttered, clambering down from the table. “It’s weird every fucking time.”

They finished cleaning up after themselves maybe half an hour later, and after some back-and-forth messaging with Jester, she agreed to meet them back at the Xhorhaus. After everything that happened yesterday, Beau didn’t want to spend a second longer in that tower than she had to. There _was_ a part of her that had… mixed feelings about all of them putting themselves at risk for Essek. But just ‘cuz she didn’t trust him or even think he was that good of a person, that didn’t mean she wanted him to die horribly or get mutilated or whatever.

They were just settling in when Jester skipped through the door with Essek in tow, who could only barely see over the boxes of pastries Jester had loaded him down with. “Guys,” Jester declared as she stepped into everyone else’s view. “This new bakery is a- _mazing_ ,” she squealed delightfully.

Essek carefully placed the boxes down so that he could actually see them. Beau took a moment to case him and noticed that he wasn’t floating, and hadn’t been when he’d entered. She couldn’t tell if he seemed more irritated or pissed off after his visit to the Lucid Bastion, much to her disappointment.

She decided to just ask. “I wasn’t here when you first got back,” Beau said to him. “How’d it go with the Queen and all?”

“As I expected,” Essek said a bit too quickly, not meeting her gaze and busying himself with adjusting his cloak. “The Bright Queen _has_ requested that we give some semblance of a search, or at least be on the lookout, for any more Beacons within the Empire’s borders.”

Oh. So _that_ had been what she’d been talking about. Well, that wasn’t too bad.

Beau shrugged. “That seems reasonable enough. I can do some digging when we hit Zadash and the Cobalt Soul there.”

“That would be most appreciated.”

Veth cleared her throat. “If we _do_ find any, you’re not gonna hand them over to the Assembly, are you?”

Beau saw Essek’s jaw twitch ever so slightly, but his voice was polite enough when he spoke. “After what has… transpired recently, no, I will not.”

Veth glared in what Beau figured was both mocking and genuine suspicion. “Okay, if you say so. But we’re watching you!”

Essek raised his eyebrows and made a ‘hmm’ in response.

Fjord cleared his throat and turned to Beau. “Well now that we’re all here, can we see this _far superior_ map you bought?”

“Sure,” Beau said, already pulling it out. “Here ya go, all of Wildemount.” She passed it over to him and he unfolded it, giving it a once-over. He gave it a satisfied nod and tucked it away where it seemed to vanish with the others.

Jester, who had shoved an entire cupcake in her mouth and was chewing aggressively, held up one finger as she swallowed. “Okay,” she said, putting her hands together in front of her chest, “I. Need. To go and get more diamonds before we leave for Nicodranas, because if someone else dies, the Traveler forbid, I _need_ to be prepared.”

“How many diamonds are you thinking of getting?” Caleb was already pulling out his gold.

“Literally as _many_ as I can.”

“Here,” Essek said. He flicked his fingers and a leather pouch appeared in his hand. Beau could hear the familiar sound of coins sliding together as he passed it over to Jester. “I believe this should cover at least a good portion of it.”

Jester took the bag and opened it, pouring the coins into her palm. Instantly, her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. “HO-LY _SHIT,_ ” she exclaimed, staring at the fistful of platinum pieces she was now holding. Based on the size of the bag and how lumpy it still was, Beau figured there had to be at least fifty pieces in there, maybe more. “Essek, thank you so so so so much!”

He shrugged a bit awkwardly. “Please, it’s my fault you’re short the material components. It’s the least I could do.”

Beau bit back her comment about throwing money at people to win them over, largely for Jester’s sake and a little bit for Caleb’s. Instead she sighed deeply through her nose and pulled out her own gold, going half in with Veth for enough to get them a second diamond. Everyone should each have their own designated diamond if Jester was able to find enough of them.

They spent the rest of their day just preparing to leave tomorrow. Caduceus accompanied Jester to go shopping, Caleb and Essek went to get more paper and nerdy wizard shit, and Yasha and Veth decided to spend most of the day in the hot tub. Beau managed to wrangle Fjord into working out with her for a few hours before sundown, and grinned a bit at how exhausted he was at the end of it. There were some things the Wildmother just couldn’t give you, apparently.

They eventually all met back up in the living room, silently agreeing to stick out another night all together, perhaps until further notice. Caleb took close to an entire fucking hour just casting extra Alarm spells while they sat, chatting idly about Nicodranas and sharing ideas about the Assembly. Beau had passed around one of the more decent bottles of wine she’d found, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Eventually, Caleb rolled out the dome again and they all spread out as best they could in what was aptly called a Tiny Hut. Jester snuggled up next to her and was using her thigh as a pillow, the tips of her horns digging through her pants. Beau smiled a little as she watched her yawn and her eyes drift shut, snoring almost instantly, watching the strands of hair that drifted as she breathed in and out and letting it lull her slowly to sleep.


	3. Chapter Three

Caleb stumbled as the Teleportation Circle dropped them all in the middle of Yussa’s tower, the now familiar lurch in his stomach still as disconcerting as always. Nicodranas had been the best idea, he knew. The Assembly would likely expect them to come from the east, from Xhorhas, and that would be the direction in which they’d send more Scourgers. He had to assume that they knew the Mighty Nein were coming. Anything else was too dangerous. They had a head start going this way, and they would be gone for Zadash and Oremid Hass before putting Jester’s mother and Veth’s family in danger.

It was curious, how much smaller his world had become over the past few days, from the moment he’d run into Essek’s tower. All he had to worry about now was protecting his friends and doing whatever it took to kill off those of the Assembly who posed a threat to them. He’d managed to keep his head well enough, better than he’d expected. This scared him, of course. It was perhaps the single most terrifying thing he’d ever considered doing. But he didn’t—yet, at least—feel like he had to strangle himself to keep from shattering. That wasn’t due to any new strength he personally possessed, he knew. It was due entirely to the people around him.

“Oh, shit,” Jester said the moment after they arrived. “I forgot to send him a message.” She quickly cleared her throat. “Uh, hey Yussa, just so you know we’re gonna be coming through your tower real soon. We kinda need to talk to you if you’re—”

“That’s twenty-five,” Fjord said, lowering his fingers. Two seconds later, Caleb heard the pattering of small feet, and the door opened, revealing the now familiar goblin visage of Wentsforth.

“Uh, hello,” he said, peering over all of them and narrowing his eyes a little at Essek. “Are you all here to see the master, or…?”

“Actually, yes we are,” Beau said. “There’s something we need to talk to him about.”

“If he is occupied today or at the moment, we would be more than happy to return tomorrow,” Caleb added. “But the matter is very pressing, and we do not want to risk staying in Nicodranas for too long.”

The goblin narrowed his eyes even more. “Right… uh, well, he’s pretty busy right now, but if you want to come back later today or early tomorrow, I could let him know you’re here.”

“Yeah, he says he’s pretty busy, guys,” Jester added, apparently having received a reply after all.

“If you all don’t mind me askin’, uh… what is it you’re here for, exactly?” Wentsforth had opened the door and was leading them down through the tower now.

They all looked at each other for a moment. Caleb finally cleared his throat. “Well, we are, erm, going after some pretty big fish at the moment, and the ripples from catching them could very well reach him here. If nothing else, we wanted to let him know. And,” he added, “we are curious if there is any aid he could offer us. Of course, we would never ask him to put himself in danger, but if he perhaps has any useful insights, that could certainly be of help.”

“What, uh… what ‘big fish’ do you mean, exactly?”

“The Cerberus Assembly,” Beau said, arms crossed. “Well, at least half of them. However many of them turn out to be total dickbags, really. We’re not married to a specific number.”

Wentsforth blinked. He opened his mouth but no sound came out. He blinked again. “Right,” he managed. “Well… With that in mind, I will let him know as soon as possible and get back to you. In the meantime…” He gestured to the door.

“Yes, of course,” Caleb said. “Do let us know when he’s available.”

“Given what you’ve just said, that should be pretty soon. But, until then, you lot enjoy Nicodranas.”

“Goodbye, we’ll see you soon!” Jester waved as they stepped out into the city and the door closed behind them. They’d left at what was about midday in Rosohna, but it was still fairly early in the morning here on the Menagerie Coast. Nicodranas was slowly coming to life, the sounds and smells already drifting through the streets a preview of what was to come once the sun got higher in the sky.

Scheisse. The sun. Caleb looked over at Essek, who had already disguised himself as a less ostentatious version of the elf they’d seen aboard the Wind of Eons. Even so, he was squinting noticeably, but anyone pulling out a parasol at the crack of dawn (well, at seven thirty-six in the morning) was bound to draw unwanted attention. Caleb quickened the group’s pace a little bit as they approached the Lavish Chateau.

Jester’s face lit up as they approached. “Essek, I cannot _wait_ for you to meet my Mama, you’re going to _love_ her, and she’s going to _love_ you!”

“I’m sure she’s lovely, Jester. I look forward to meeting her.”

Jester grinned and skipped towards the building to get them all inside. Caleb smiled a little and shook his head. Her ability to remain cheerful and happy even as they were in mortal danger and about to undertake their most deadly mission to date simply amazed him.

Jester ushered them all in and up the stairs. Beau had been looking around for that wretched owl again, but relented as she was basically pushed inside. Veth split off to go spend time with her own family, and the rest of them were shepherded up to go see Jester’s mother.

Jester burst through the double doors to her mother’s rooms with both hands, flinging them inward. Marion Lavorre, who had been sitting by the window, quietly reading and combing her hair, looked up first in shock but then with a smile. “ _Jester_ ,” she exclaimed, opening her arms.

“Mama, I missed you _sooooooo_ much,” Jester said, throwing herself into the hug. Caleb didn’t miss Beau’s slight, sad smile from the corner of his eye.

Jester pulled herself away after a few seconds and grabbed Essek, who had dropped his disguise since entering the Chateau, by the arm and pulled him forward. “Mama,” she said, “this is our friend Essek, he’s from Xhorhas and he’s super smart and powerful and super cool and he can _float_.”

“It is, um, very nice to meet you,” Essek said, clearly a bit flustered at the sudden forced interaction. He extended a hand to her. “You have a lovely home.”

Marion shook his hand with a smile. “Thank you, it is very nice to meet you as well. Any friend of Jester’s is welcome here.”

“We’re only gonna be staying for a little while, probably,” Jester said, her tail still swinging excitedly. “We’re probably leaving for Zadash like, tomorrow or the day after.”

“Oh.” Marion’s face visibly fell. “Why so soon?”

Beauregard cleared her throat. “There’s some pretty messed up people that might be after us. We’re dealing with it, but we don’t wanna put you guys in the crossfire.”

“Yeah, there’s some pretty shitty folk we’re trying to get rid of,” Fjord added.

Marion’s eyes widened. “That sounds… very dangerous.” She turned to Jester. “Are you sure you’re safe?”

“Yeah Mama, I have my friends and I have the Traveler, I’m fine.”

“You’re pretty tough yourself, Jes,” Beauregard added.

“She knows _that_ , Beau,” Jester groaned good-naturedly. “After TravelerCon I’m like, super powerful now.”

Marion grinned. “That’s my girl!” She took her daughter’s hands and squeezed them tightly. Then she turned back to the rest of the Nein. “Well, if you all will be staying for the night, I can certainly have some rooms put together for you all.”

“That would be great, thank you,” Fjord said.

Marion sent word to the few members of the Chateau’s staff who had somehow missed Jester’s arrival, and they all drifted to their respective rooms to settle in until they heard from Yussa. Even though they were only going to be there for maybe a day, Caleb’s nerves at them all being separated were enough that he took the time to cast Alarm over everyone’s rooms, first Beau and Yasha, then Caduceus and Fjord, then Jester’s childhood room and the quarters where Veth was staying with her husband and son. Finally, he knocked on Essek’s door, part of him wishing he’d come here first so the spell would have already been in place.

“Hi,” Caleb said when Essek opened the door. He held up the silver thread and inclined his head towards the window. “Do you mind?”

Essek shook his head. “Of course not.” He stepped to the side to let Caleb in.

“Come on,” Caleb said, taking his hand and guiding them both to the curtained window. “You need to learn this one too, then both of us can cast it for the group and we can cover more of the Xhorhaus whenever we’re back in Rosohna.”

Caleb realized a bit too late the implication in his words: that Essek was going to be with them, with _him,_ for hopefully a while longer. He hadn’t even noticed that he’d started having that assumption, that hope. But something had ended with the Scourger attack, and he couldn’t go back to the way things were before it.

Essek smiled as they both sat by the windowsill. “Alright. That would certainly save us some time.”

Caleb took the time to cast the spell himself over the window, feeling a bit of relief as the ritual ended and the Alarm locked into place. Then he half-sat, half-laid on the windowsill with Essek for the time needed to copy down the spell, one arm around his shoulders and his other hand holding his spellbook open. Caleb was fascinated, watching him work. The intense, focused expression on his face made Essek seem like more of a mirror than ever before.

“So,” Caleb said, shifting a little closer. “What do you think of Jester’s mother?”

Essek smiled a little, half of his attention still on the spell in front of him. “She is very affectionate. I must confess I found it a bit strange, at first.”

“Strange?”

“The Dens are not, ah… particularly warm,” he clarified. “With my mother’s duties and the honing of my own talents, I saw her only sparingly when I was growing up. Most of our interactions were at family events and meetings with other Dens, matters of court, that sort of thing.”

Caleb frowned a bit at that, but Essek changed the subject before he could speak.

“How are we planning to get to Zadash? I can Teleport us all there, if need be.”

Caleb hesitated a heartbeat, but didn’t press the matter any further. “Well,” he sighed, “I know the Teleportation Circle for the Cobalt Soul there, so after we speak to Yussa and perhaps take care of a few more things, I can take us there. We could go up through the border by cart I suppose, but that seems a bit too risky and the Assembly are bound to find out.”

“That seems wise,” Essek said distantly. He was on the tail end of the spell now, Caleb could tell. “Though I would assume they’re tracking our every move.”

Caleb smiled. “I’m assuming the same thing myself.”

Essek finished the spell then, the final glyph taking shape. He let the book fall back in his lap and adjusted himself to look up at Caleb. “I’m still worried,” he confessed, “about putting all of you in danger over me.”

“Don’t start that again,” Caleb chided gently. He took Essek’s hand and brought it to his lips, kissing his knuckles. “We’ve been wanting to go after the Assembly for a while, anyway. I hate them at least as much as you do. And until they’re gone, I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

Essek laughed softly. He rested his head on Caleb’s shoulder and ran his thumb over the back of his hand. “And after that?”

That was the question Caleb had been asking himself, perhaps only semi-consciously, since the night of the attack. He had parts of the answer, at least he hoped he did, but some still escaped him.

“Well,” he began, threading their fingers together, “if we all make it out alive, I suppose we’ll have to handle whatever inevitably starts threatening that state next. But if by some miracle there’s nothing…” Caleb stared at their hands for a moment, squeezing lightly. “Rosohna isn’t so bad. Though,” he added, “there are some things I would like to handle in the Empire.”

“Like what?” Essek’s voice was quiet, guarded.

Caleb sighed slowly. “The Soltryce Academy has, ah, been on my mind for quite some time. If we do end up killing…” Caleb couldn’t say his name, not here where he had some semblance of safety, of security, of love. “Well, I can’t imagine it maintaining its current status. But I do think it has potential. I would like very much to turn it into something good.”

“’Better than it was,’” Essek echoed.

“Exactly,” Caleb said softly. “It was a very bad place for me, and I did some very bad things while I was there. At the time, I believed they were right, but now…”

He looked down at Essek, brushing a few stray strands of hair from his face. “I told you before that you were like looking at a mirror. I’ve hated myself a long time for the things that I’ve done, but I do not know how to continue hating myself while also caring for you.” He paused, fingertips lingering on Essek’s cheek. “It appears that something is going to have to give, and I think I know which one I’d like it to be. Though,” Caleb added, “I feel it is very unfair, to put that on you when you did not ask for it.”

Essek kissed him then, the tips of his fangs just barely pressing against Caleb’s bottom lip. He pulled away after a moment, just enough that their gazes met again, and smiled. “It would be my honor,” he whispered. “And,” he added, “if the Empire is safe enough, I could always, ah, extend my leave of absence from the Dynasty.”

Caleb grinned. “Teaching more Empire humans dunamancy?” He teased.

“Well, it’s gone so well with the first one.”

Caleb pulled him in and kissed him again, still grinning, almost dizzy with happiness for the first time in quite a while. He ran one hand through Essek’s hair and wrapped the other around his waist, palm pressed flat against his spine to pull him closer. Essek laughed softly, kissing him back and loosely hanging his arms around Caleb’s neck.

He very well could have stayed there all day and then some, but the sound of footsteps followed by an insistent pounding on the door had other ideas.

“Hey,” Beauregard shouted from the other side, “if you two are all done in there, Jester said that Yussa’s inviting us over!”

Caleb pulled away from Essek with an irritated sigh. “Two minutes, Beauregard,” he called out over his shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, I’ve gotta deal with Veth too!” He heard her footsteps recede as she stomped farther down the hall.

“Well,” Caleb exhaled. He looked back at Essek, whose hair was now sticking up at all angles, and kissed the corner of his mouth one more time, tracing the outline of his jaw with his fingers. “Let’s get started on getting rid of these fucks once and for all.”

Essek smiled and gave him a nod. “Let’s.”

**Author's Note:**

> So mechanically speaking, Revivify doesn't leave you with exhaustion points, and lingering injuries aren't used in the show that I'm aware of. But narratively, dying is still a traumatic experience and has to be rough on the body.


End file.
